Culture
Aurelia is a fortress atop a mountain, teeming with various happenings by its citizens. About Aurelia - History Historical-Timeline-of-Aurelia_WEB.jpg|Historical Timeline of Aurelia City|link=http://www.theatrics.com/aurelia/video/s9hr In The Beginning Aurelia. Few born within these walls ever leave. Those who do, never return. The plains surrounding this mountain-bound city were once a paradise of unmatched beauty, light and life. The fables say a pure cosmic energy called Shakna burned on the mountaintop in the shape of fiery tree. Its roots ran to the center of the earth, a nerve ganglion of life at the core of the continent. Its fiery leaves sustained a rich garden landscape and a teeming array of mythic creatures. Idyllic human villages dotted the plain while one wandering tribe, known as The Chosen, were tasked with caring for the Tree of Shakna and guarding its incredible powers. Then, a thousand years ago, treason broke the ranks of The Chosen. A faction, led by the mysterious, beguiling Navaris, tried to seize the power of the Tree for themselves. In response, the remaining Chosen uprooted the tree and spirited it away to the distant mountains to protect its power from human greed. Darkness Falls In the aftermath, permanent Darkness fell over Aurelia. The land decayed into a jungle of poisonous thorns. The beautiful creatures mutated into monsters prowling for blood. Acid rain poured from the skies. To escape certain death, the remaining human inhabitants fled for the safety of the now-bare mountain. There, they built a city that would sustain itself for generations to come. Rather than spreading out, their city spread up, rising layer upon layer around the mountain. They called it Aurelia after their lost home. Inside this tower-fortress, three races flourished: humans; the mole-like, subterranean kiega; and the machine-enhanced humanoid renn. Once the first generation of inhabitants died off, the truth of the old paradise faded slowly into myth. Only the truth of the City remained. Rise of the City For a millennium, Aurelians survived the darkness by their own ingenuity. Scientists emerged as the ruling class, aligning into 24 all-powerful First Families who bound the city to their brilliance. Inventors were right behind the scientists in rank. Below, workers fell into a series of ranks--from engineers, merchant and tradesmen to metal workers and boiler-keepers, all the way down to the street sweepers and thieves. In this stratified society, change came quickly. Early cave dwellings quickly gave way to a complex hive of brick and mortar, iron and stone. Mines soon penetrated the mountain core, offering a steady supply of garemite for the city’s boilers. Up and down the city, factories, markets, homes, and schools bustled with the power of steam and the flicker of gaslight. A well-armed and well-trained public watch quelled any flicker of unrest that threatened the city's wellbeing. The Decline Begins It seemed for a time that this new man-made paradise would stand forever. But then, a series of small disasters added up to a catastrophe, leaving the city vulnerable. It all started with dissent among the ruling scientific class, or First Families. Each family sent a representative to sit on a ruling High Council, of whom the senior-most member was called "King." For at least a century, the kings bore the name of Daregur, a family of renowned physicists. But other First Families wanted power--and they mean to have it. Trust and cooperation disintegrated into distrust and treason. To make matters worse, Aurelia's geologists reported a disastrous miscalculation made by their ancestors. For centuries, they had believed the mountain held an almost inexhaustible supply of garemite. But recently, the most productive deposits have begun to run out, and no new energy supply had been found to take its place. The Big Loss By this time, the scheming Council had lost all ability to work together to solve its newly-arisen energy crisis. While panic rose in the streets, the Council busied itself with tricking young King Jude Daregur into a terrible crime, then banishing him out the gate, into the Wasteland. When they did, they might have sent their most brilliant physicist mind, and their soon-to-be energy solutions, out the gate with him. No one is really sure, but the regrets linger. Since King Jude's banishment, unrest has grown beyond the Public Watch's control. In the factories, the terrified poor whisper of uprising. In the narrow streets, lawlessness grows bolder. In the midst of all this chaos one nobleman, Lord Septimus Pennywalter, has grown irate with the High Council's antics and has decided to take the future to the people. He believes that by connecting with each other via the newfangledcamera obscurata, or moving pictures, can Aurelia hope to find its answers. So Lord Pennywalter calls upon all citizens to record their daily lives—in hopes that through their own stories, they themselves might find unlock their future. Your Turn This is your world. If you succeed in solving the crisis, you may usher in a paradise almost like the one the fables speak of. If you fail, you will find your entire civilization going the way of King Jude: out into a Wasteland from which there is escape. Businesses Octavia's Gastronomia is a restaurant in the city where perfectly proper lunches and elegant dinners unfold along side less-than-legal propositions. The main beverage of choice is Aurelian Ale. Aurelian Chief of Watch Antonius Ironspar is rumored to convene his deadly Eye of the Watch there . . . undercover, of course. Entertainment Aurelia contains numerous houses of entertainment. Popular options include the followng: Shakna Garden The Shakna Garden is a house of pleasures run by Madam Renata Lamperouge. Located in the Stratum of Crafts and Trades, the Garden is home to about a dozen ladies and a rotating crew of 3-4 gentlemen. Catering to highborn and low, Madam Rena prides herself on the fair wages and living conditions she offers each of her employees. All clients must be regularly tested for diseases and strict rules are kept in place to ensure the utmost safety and health of all involved. In order to help bridge the inequality gap, Rena offers a unique program for men (or women) who would like to purchase services but cannot afford it. This program involves a four-month stay at the Shakna Garden, where the client works on a temporary basis. Rena allows them to live in the Garden free of charge while they're in her employ, and in exchange, all of their earnings go to paying back the lady or gentleman from whom they purchased services. At the end of the four month term, any extra wages go to the client, who is then free to return home, purchase more services, or continue on as a full-time employee. The Shakna Garden recently underwent renovations after receiving extra funding from some wealthy clients. A new cafe has been installed on the lower level, which is open to the public, and various thematic rooms have been installed upstairs. Additionally, the building has been refurbished, and now has a central heating system, as well as indoor bathing facilities. If you are interested in spending some time at The Shakna Garden, please contact Madam Renata Lamperouge. Prices begin at 2 silver thorns for a 4-hour session with an unspecified lady (or gentleman), and vary from there based on time desired, particular interests, and any other wishes of the client. Thimblewick Playhouse The Thimblewick Playhouse is a theater located in the gallery district of the Middle Strata. Recent plays include The Calamitous Siren, written and directed by playhouse owner Master Josus Thimblewick. Death & Shadows Inside the city of Aurelia, physics and biology work (for the most part) like they do in our world. Whatever strange affect the Wasteland has on those who live there--the Fallen and the bothzar, or mutated beasts--is largely mitigated inside Aurelia's walls. But one distinct difference does exist between our world and Aurelia's spiraling city: when someone dies in Aurelia, their body disintegrates several hours after death, leaving only their shadow, which hardens into a rigid, translucent glassy substance. While the exact biology of this strange phenomenon is unknown, records indicate that it has existed since the earliest days after Dark Fall. In one sense, this is helpful, for it means that Aurelians find no need to provide graves, incinerate rotting bodies, or deal with other health hazards related to decaying life forms. In another sense, it means that every life does remain present in a tangible form. Once hardened, a shadow can be forged, beaten, ground down, or otherwise treated like a piece of metal. Some wealthy people, such as the most powerful of the First Families and the king's household, turn their deceased relations' bodies into fine swords (see exiled King Jude's "Shadowblade," which was his Father's shadow), sculpture, or other objects of respect and perpetual honor. But the vast majority of shadows are taken to the Temple, where the family offers them to the serpent goddess in exchange for considerable "family mercy" in overlooking their collective transgressions. What would the goddess want with shadows? Well, donated shadows typically are used to construct the Temple complex. Each shadow, when heated and beaten down, provides only a small square footage, so the Temple has taken hundreds of years and perhaps millions of shadows to arrive in its present awe-inspiring form. (This is why the Temple is rendered in translucent grays on the map of Aurelia.) Imagine layer upon layer of rooms, folding and winding in on themselves, until the most sacred rooms--deep inside--are completely blocked from view. Imagine this, and you may have a better idea about the Temple. Death Rituals & Production of Shadow In Aurelia, when a person dies, rather than leave behind a physical corpse, the individual leaves behind a shadow. This is easy to lift and transport as it is merely shadow made physical and thus weighs much less than a human body. Shadow is often donated to the Temple to be used as building material in the incessant Temple expansions, which are thought to please the goddess, and thus attract her to remain in Aurelia. Through specific unknown alchemical treatments, this shadow becomes as strong as steel, but weighs a fraction of it. This process allows shadow to be forged into weapons and armor as well, but not by a regular forger. This work must be done by a Shadow Forger in the Temple. This small community of professionals also know one further secret about the shadow steel which may--on occasion--be used by the wealthy or powerful. Legends among the shadow forgers whispers that through a special process, the forger may tap into the limited essence of the deceased through their shadow and use qualities left behind as "residual imprints" to further improve the shadow steel's quality. Some examples include: a shadow sword may be forged from a deceased war hero and provide abilities to make the steel or even the owner more deadly in combat. Or, an individual known for their amazing constitution may provide strength within a suit of armor made using his/her shadow, rendering the wearer resistant to damage. This process is both expensive and psychologically dangerous to both the forger and the wearer, so it is rarely ever undertaken. Most instances of such "sentient" weaponry and armor have been disproved--and the most logical of scientists like Horatio Moncrethe disavow it altogether. Of course, there is a down side to this process, particularly if a shadow's former existence met a violent, untimely demise. The shadow steel rendered in this process may maintain the shadow's desire for vengeance upon its former existence's killer, or in the case of the mentally insane or psychopathic, it's murderous urges may continue on in the shadow steel's form. Stories exist of swords acting on their own accord or in some very extreme cases possessing its owner. Beware this process. Food Production & Consumption Because Aurelia is built atop a mountain, and the Wasteland's acid clouds block out all celestial light, there is little arable land. Centuries ago, Aurelian botanists uncovered the basics of hydroponic gardening and other low-light farming methods. Hence, many fungi and phosphorescent plants are grown inside the mountain, tended by the kiega (see center panel of image). While the range of food groups may seem limited by outside perspective, Aurelian cooks have perfected endless and often surprising combinations of ingredients for a full menu of tasty dishes. Lichens and certain varieties of mushroom are key staples and can be found in teas, soups, main dishes, etc. Carefully-bred herds of nocturnal creatures are also herded inside the mountain and used for food. Justice System Justice in Aurelia may seem hard to come by. The Council's rule is autocratic, and even the king has little power. Many feel the Public Watch are doing their best to fight crime and keep discontent from festering into dangerous fighting that could threaten Aurelia's small landspace. A growing faction of others, however, question the Watch's methodologies. Many seemingly innocent people, who were never quite proven guilty, disappear on a regular basis, often after being accused of, or at least suspected in, crimes against their betters. Somehow, the ideal of a fair investigation and trial for all seems to fall by the wayside for all but the most public of suspects or the most influential of victims. Those cases that do make it to trial are mediated by a''' marshal', Aurelia's version of a judge. The marshal hears the case and negotiates a decision with several members of minor nobility or (in certain cases) influential members of the merchant or trades classes. If the case requires a higher opinion, one or more minor nobles may be calld in as '''ombudsman', or dilemma-breakers. (Corruption and bribery is common if the suspect in question is of any means whatsoever, and certain dealers in the grey markets are believed to offer loans for this sort of circumstance.) In the rarest cases (such as when King Jude broke into Lord Barigeth's estate), the High Council will hear and decie the fate of the suspect for themselves. Usually these cases involve other nobility, and such trials are particularly feared, as they are often used to dispose of the out-of-favor or provide an excuse for revenge against someone close to the suspect. Such corruption is nothing new in Aurelia. An early scholar of the city wrote in frustration, "Aurelia! Thy justice is as fickle as thy goddess, as fleeting as the sight of her golden scales slipping out of the city and into the terrors beyond. Where she goes, we know not. When she comest again, we likewise remain unsure. Should the goddess remain among us for any length, perhaps there might be more justice. For I do swear she doth wrap herself within it, and steal it away from us for half the lifetime of a man." Laws section needs content Mythology of Aurelia Aurelian mythology largely surrounds the paradise that ancient texts claim preceded the last thousand years of Darkfall. Many speak of an ancient energy source, called Shakna, that rested on the mountaintop and was the subject of the revolution that plunged the Continent into Darkness. Shakna As counter-intuitive as it may seem, Aurelia retains very few texts that discuss the nature, properties, history and lore of Shakna. Most of these are buried in scholars' private collections or crumbling away somewhere in the basement of the national archives. Over the years, many others were burned, used for kindling or otherwise destroyed by skeptical scientific rulers, to avoid putting "fairy tales" in the heads of the populace. One of these "dangerous" and long-disappeared texts is The Alchemy of Light by noted scholar Lucius Feathersmoke Monsatya, was thought lost entirely but recently resurface in Prince Bayard's private collection through an unclear set of circumstances. Prior to this occurence, only a few fragments of the book had been preserved and were regularly cited in popular Symposia textbooks as pristine examples of Aurelian fable. The book's reappearance in the Prince's library was not entirely happy, however. In Rise of the Tiger (a document now circulating around town, which purports to tell the King Jude's perspective on the events leading to his exile), Prince Bayard is reported to quote The Alchemy of Light during the king's unfortunate trial. It seems the Prince had become mixed up with a strange figure known as Quintus (now once again disappeared) and had mistaken him for the answer to Monsatya's final prophecy that Shakna would once again be restored to the city by a great leader. The text appears to have played a role in his decision to testify against his brother. The Prince's copy of The Alchemy of Light has now passed into Horatio Moncrethe's possession, albeit with a few missing pages thought to be in the hands of one Flavius Dark. While we believe you may find the following passage instructive, take care that you consider its source, and also its tainted role in recent sordid political affairs. In the first chapter of The Alchemy of Light, Lucius Feathersmoke Monsatya writes: "In the beginning, when this crumbling corpse of a continent was instead a work of art, there existed two intrinsic classes of being: Matter and Energy. Matter even now exists as it did then in four states, but this is not the subject of our discussion. Our inquiry concerns us solely with the properties of Energy alone. To this we shall turn immediately. At the dawn of time, Energy was twain, not only in state but in essence. Mankind knew the Low Energy well, and even now, that energy concerns our finest minds in their philosophic and scientific inquiries. But the other form of energy was known as Shakna. This form of energy belongs not to the stuff of mortal existence, but to the divine. '' ''Before the continent felt the first faltering foosteps of humankind, before being and emotion and will, before life itself had been called out of nothing, there was Shakna. From the High Court in the Deeps, the Giver wove the worlds together from Matter and Energy. With Shakna, the pure essence of celestial power, he stitched them fast together and flung the continent into the Void. There it draped among the stars, tied fast to the High Court by its golden chain of Shakna. But these things are too far above the human mind to truly comprehend. To accommodate our frailties, the Giver planted among us a reminder of this unseen thread that held all things together. He knew it must be something we would see and understand, and furthermore, would love. And what, dear reader, doth the human soul love more than the might and shade of a tree, with all its lifegiving fruits? In this form the Giver planted Shakna among us. Such a tree there never was before, nor after upon this continent. A mighty fiery oak, composed of pure Shakna, with flaming roots that curled their way through the soil, split the bedrock as if its were flesh, and wrapped themselves around the very core of the continent. Meanwhile, its shimmering leaves reached for the stars far above the sky. Many say, they touched them. This tree was henceforth known with awe and reverence as the Mother Tree. It stood upon the peak of Mount Aurelia, shining over the plain in the center of the continent. Each year, like any mortal tree, the Mother Tree bore a fruit known as Ember. These tiny glowing pods of Shakna snapped easily from the branches when fully mature. The four winds carried them across the continent, implanting them in every soil, from the rich loam of the Aurelian Plains to the parched sands of Redsift, the stony but arable soils of Bluebranch and even the shifting shales of Whitepeak. And hark! These too took rook deep within their new homes and sprouted thusly upward, until groves of Shakna burned in every far flung corner of the continent. In between their leaf-crowns and root-toes, a paradise flourished in their light: thriving nature of untold variety and size, docile animals who shared their souls and their skills freely with humankind, a shimmering landscape devoid of shadows, and a race of mortals blessed with nothing to fear. Nothing, that is, except Deception. From the days of the earliest humans, it was whispered that Deception alone could weaken the bond between the Continent and the Deep. Prophets warned of this terrible evil: a blight poweful enough to infect Shakna and weaken both the bonds of matter and energy, as well as the chain that kept them tethered to the High Court of the Deep. If Matter and Energy were left to themselves, their own frail bonds would begin to disintegrate, setting the continent on a slow, sure celestial drift from which there would be no repair. To guard against such a tragedy, a tribe of female warrior-priests, the Chosen, rose to tend the trees. Their leader, the all-powerful Keeper of the Mother Tree, led them to study the deeper secrets of Shakna, bond with its uniqe matter- and lower energy-bending properties, and perfect a system of combat in which nature itself became their weapon. All these graces they learned and practiced in order that Shakna might be defended should Deception ever rise. In every society, the Chosen commanded respect and ensured that Shakna remained untainted, and that the trees themselves were used only for judicious, wise and truthful purposes. And so, for a millennium, Deception remained little more than a whisper. But at last--just as the prophets warned--Deception found its genesis. But alas! Though all had thought it would find its root in the nations of the continent, instead it founds it host in the person of the Keeper herself. Navaris; an especially beguiling and beloved leader of the Chosen, had not been long installed at her post when she made the terrible discovery. Though raised from birth to take the duties of the Keeper, Navaris nurtured within her a wild soul. She craved something different than endless beauty and order. What might happen if something wild entered the ecology? Woud chaos provide her more challenge, more excitement, more fulfillment than preservation of a system for which their seemed to be no threat? Better yet, if the bond of Shakna was weakened at her hands, what might she do with Matter and Energy herself ... to refashion it? The only way to answer these questions was experiment, of course. And for this, Navaris took a series of lies within her own heart--never uttered aloud--and wove them with her Chosen powers into the venom of her soul companion, a beautiful golden serpent. At her coaxing, the serpent dropped a single drop of the tainted venom into the soil of the Mother Tree's garden, at the top of Mount Aurelia. It was just one drop. But from that drop, a mutant species of vine sprouted from the earth. Delighted, Navaris called it Chaotica Nervosa. Unclassifiable, unpredicatble and ravenous, Chaotica Nervosa spread through the continent, choking fiery groves of Shakna wherever it took hold. Their roots soon withered. Their trunks grew diseased and plunged to the earth to rot as if they were made of matter and not of divine energy. Devoid of its fiery pillars, the sky darkened. Clouds crushed down upont the land. Animal turned against man, relinquishing the bond between them and mutating into grotesque monsters that craved only human blood. But worst of all was the infection in humankind. Deception weakened human eyes so that they could no longer see Shakna, nor were sure it ever had existed. Deception further became their primary drug: a narcotic without which they could neither live with themselves nor with each other. Clans and tribes rode out to unheard-of wars, wieldling lies as dangerously as they wielded their newly-forged swords. Fearful for the permanent loss of all Shakna--and thus, the severing of the golden chain from the High Court, which would put the continent into permanent celestial drift--the Chosen cast Navaris from the Mother Tree's garden at the top of Mount Aurelia and condemned her to wander the darkening wasteland, trapped inside the body of her now-contrary serpent companion. Unde the leadership of Navaris's sister Theian, the Chosen uprooted the Mother Tree and spirited it away to a high mountain valley shrouded in gales of snow. There, it is reported that they built a crystal city to protect the Tree and maintain a tiny microcosm of the fabulous paradise that once had been the birthright of all mankind. And this, I submit, now brings us to the history of our own present age. We already know how our ancestors fled the locus of the Dark Fall, and the its poisonous creeping claws, for the shelter of the now-empty mountain. We already know how our ancestors lived inside the caves with the native kiega, until pride and infighting split our one family into many, and we built ourselves a tower made of walls, so that we might stand as one, divided. For these many weary centuries, our city has risen toward the roiling clouds, shaking our collective fist in the face of the apocalypse. Could it truly be that somewhere, beyond this feeble prison we call a Wasteland, the divine chain still strains to retain its thin hold on our disintegrating continent? Could it be that the Golden Chain truly trembles behind a veil of ice? Could it be that the fiery-headed ones wrap themselves in white even now, and touch essence of the High Court with mortal hands? If these things be, my dear reader, then we ought give ourselves wholly to obtaining them once again. For matter in all its states and the lower energy is slowly passing away. But Shakna lasts forever. In its light, we too would once again cease to speak of darkness and decay, death and deception, and all the thousand sorrows that plague our current existence inside this tower. But that assumes, my dear reader, that all I have told you is true. This judgment I leave into your hands alone." -- Lucius Feathersmoke Monsatya -- The Alchemy of Light, Chapter First Punishments The Laboratory Aurelia's prisons lie in a honeycomb of underground chambers accessible from only one entrance near the Public Watch barracks. These dark, terrifying halls are patrolled by a particularly grizzly Watch battalion -- often those who have received pardons for their crimes, but whose reputations preclude a safe return to the strata above. No one is really sure what lies in the deepest depths of the prison structure, but many whisper that monsters from the Wasteland, and even some of the Fallen, are chained up there and used for torture routines on the most hated political prisoners. Others speak of a chamber called The Laboratory where condemned prisoners are incorporated into bizarre experiments or "cannibalized" for parts in much the same way one would pick them off an old machine. Legend has it the renn were created through a century of laboratory experiments. What the next big "breakthrough" in human engineering might be, no one knows for sure. The only recent account of the laboratory's existence lies in a strange memoir that began circulating after King Jude's exile. Purporting to tell his "side" of the story, this manuscript describes how the Laboratory was used as a torture device during his stay in the prisons, before his arena battle. Read the full account here: http://riseofthetiger.com/chapter-16-prisoner-part-1/ Religion Serpent Worship In a world based so heavily on science, it may seem strange that most Aurelians make regular pilgrimages to the Temple at the top of the mountain and make offerings of food, incense, and other luxury goods to the Serpent Goddess. For many wealthy Aurelians, this practice is more about state unity and public conformity for the sake of order, than it is about actual devotion. For poorer Aurelians, the Serpent is the a much more heartfelt (or feared?) divinity whose powers are unquestioned. See the Temple on the map. Origins of Serpent Worship The origins of the cult go back, like so many things, to the time of Darkfall. As animals and mythical creatures began to die off--leaving those that remained to degeneate into monsters--the Serpent was the only creature of any species who retained her superior size, beauty, and sentient qualities from pre-Darkfall days. While the Serpent does not speak to people, at least not to those outside her priesthood, she is believed to feel empathy for humans, understand their prayers, and be able to grant good things. Her presence in the city is often cited as a chief reason for its abundance of scientific knowledge and staying power over the centuries. To stave off their own fear regarding the energy shortage, some residents point out that the City will last as long as the Serpent -- and she does not fear darkness in the way that humans do. Travels of the Goddess The Serpent does not always inhabit her Temple, however. She is known to disappear frequently, slithering off into the Wasteland for months, sometimes years, at a time. Worship continues despite her absence, but most devout followers feel safer once she has returned again to sleep on her golden flotilla in the middle of the Crater Lake. No one knows what she does when she leaves, or how she survives the Wasteland. They also do not believe that she feels "creaturely needs" such as hunger, because she has never eaten in front of her devotees and apparently does not seek food from her priests. This matter remains a mystery among the general public. Temple Environs Further descriptions of the Serpent's Temple and something about the priesthood can be found in Chapter 9 and Chapter 11 of Rise of the Tiger. For quick reference, the Serpent's Temple sits atop the mountain peak, just under the Vertex suspended on flying buttresses above it. The entire peak is paved with shimmering obsidian-like tiles and is often used for fairs and markets on holy days. The Temple itself, in the middle, is made of a dark translucent material -- shadow -- donated by the families of the deceased for its ongoing construction. The Serpent's Inner Sanctum, a round hall that encloses the Crater Lake at the peak's center, is closed to all but her most trusted priests and a few devotees. Religious Lore Recently, when the trouble with King Jude began, it is known that his mother Mishaya barged in on the Serpent's rest, to bargain for his safety, and somehow lived to tell about it. But the nature of their conversation is not known generally, other than the speculation that it of course concerned the safe return of her sons. Because Mishaya ultimately lost both of them, one can only assume she offended the goddess beyond repair. Children of the Void Whereas most Aurelians want to keep Darkness and Chaos at bay, the Children of the Void - a radical nihilist religious group that until recently had remained clandestine - embrace them as a transitional state between Being and sacred Nothingness. The CotV believe that the Void, the absolute absence of existence, preceded the emergence of all else (including Shakna and its source) and is the natural and right state of the cosmos. Existence is an aberration - a plague in need of eradication. CotV dogma holds that when Shakna faltered at Darkfall, Chaos emerged to perform this eradication; it *should* have consumed all else and, once all energy had been exhausted in its ravenous proliferation, itself faded into oblivion, leaving Nothing. The Void. But sufficient energy remained in the form of sentient life, tied as it is to the last faint glimmer of Shakna in the world, to sustain Chaos in tension with Being rather than allowing it to take its natural, all-consuming course. Now, over a millennium later, the CotV believe that the opportunity has once again arisen for existence to be extinguished. Under the leadership of Medemia, the Prophet of the Void, they have come out of hiding to seek - often violently - to prevent science and the Serpent religion (both of which regard light, life, etc. positively and so are inimical to the Void) from further delaying the destruction of Aurelia, which they believe will begin a chain of events ensuring that no sufficient source of energy remains to restain entropy's ultimately inexorable progress toward the Void. "And from the shadows of all that has been, the Void, which was all, shall be all again." Shopping While staple necessities can be purchased at small shops on every level of the city, Aurelia's most serious shopping options reside on three strata known as the "upper middle": the stratum of merchants, stratum of crafts & trades, and the Middle Strata. Stratum of Merchants Legal Buying Options This level houses the storerooms and shops of those engaged in buying and selling goods--both raw and fabricated. The emporiums offer a lower-price general store-type environment where a variety of cheap goods, from foodstuffs to cloth to lamp oil, are available for purchase. Mid-level shopping options move away from cross-industry retail and offer instead a slightly higher-priced shopping experience for a family of items. (For example, a mid-priced shop might sell everything related to sewing or underground agriculture.) The most expensive merchants of this stratum specialize in a single item, such as shoes, hats, or buckles. Potential customers are screened at the door by their citizenship papers, which effectively keep out low-class gawkers and ensure an elite shopping experience. Most merchants accept pay only in Aurelian thorns. A few may allow poorer clients to work a fixed number of hours in order to pay for purchases. Some of the cruelest have been known to indenture a relative of the debtor for life. While on any given day, most streets in the quarter will be filled with Aurelians of all social class, the poorest would likely be looked on with suspicion, and run out of the strata by the Public Watch should any suspicion of pickpocketing or misdemeanor surface. Illegal Buying Options Not everyone in Aurelia wishes to conduct their purchase experiences in a public environment. For those with less mainstream products (such as experimental drugs concocted from phosphorescent underground fungi, or the so-called "gray-market" weapons fashioned from Temple shadows), hidden markets flourish. Many of these are accesible only by tunnel or rock fissure, to a cave enclosure where merchants vie for business. Some scientists are also believed to frequent these markets because genetically deviant beings--human, kiega, or otherwise--are often auctioned off for experimentation. Stratum of Crafts and Trades Legal Buying Options If the Merchant's Stratum is the home of distribution, then the Stratum of Crafts & Trades is the home of production. Here, all kinds of craftspeople toil away on goods to be sold directly through their workshop or to be shipped by barge to the Merchant's Stratum, to be sold at markup by the merchants. The stratum is organized by quarters, small neighborhoods where each type of craftsperson plies his/her trade. The blacksmiths' quarter is one example; the jewelers' quarter is another. Life in this strata is both loud, on account of the incessant ringing, pounding, and other noises associated with this strata. Many quarters are also oppressively hot due to the number of open fires, kilns, and other sources of heat. Illegal Buying Options Black markets are less frequent on this stratum, probably because less public buying and selling goes on in general. But in every quarter, at least one or two dealers are known to trade with those more secretively-minded among the population. Some also accept payment in stolen goods, or willingly transform a stolen good into something else. For example, in the blacksmiths' quarter a few smiths would happily reheat and beat a stolen sword into several dagger blades. Middle Stratum In addition to the Stratum of Merchants and the Stratum of Crafts & Trades, Aurelians also find shopping options on the Middle Stratum. As the "Gathering Point" where the upper and lower strata converge, the Middle Strata is a colorful, open patchwork of canalside parks, galleries, entertainment venues, restaurants, and other establishments of collective interest. Legal Shopping Options Overall the Middle Stratum is more about entertainment and public discourse and less about shopping, but some shopping options are available--mostly in the area of arts or household decor. Some of the more elite merchants maintain a second showroom here to further impress their status upon the populace; in other instances, galleries or entertainment venues sell decorative goods, costumes, paintings or similar items related to their business. If you are a wealthy Aurelian, the Middle Stratum would be a good place to purchase a wedding or housewarming gift; if you are poor, you'd likely window-shop and try not to get mistaken for a pickpocket. Illegal Shopping Options Knock-off luxury goods and fake paintings, statues, etc. are sometimes cleverly mixed in among legitimate high-end goods. Also, in the past, some merchants have been caught using their wares to transport stolen goods, espionage devices or weapons. Buyers should purchase at their own risk or conduct a thorough investigation of the seller's credentials. For the poorer inhabitants, the Middle Stratum actually offers a robust trade in illegal narcotics (think like opium in the 19th century, only made from subterranean plants), cheap guns with knock-off red aether (damaging and impressive, but hardly as lethal), and other less-than-legal items. This may be due to the fact that the Middle Stratum is closer to the Lower Strata than the Strata of Merchants or Crafts & Trades, suggesting that upper-class folks frequent those two higher strata for their illegals, while poorer Aurelians take what they can get, as close to their own part of the world. One final word: while it is rarely spoken of in polite company, it is a well-known fact around Aurelia that servants can be bought as well as hired. For various reasons--possible due to the size and busyness of the Middle Stratum docks--this stratum is the most viable place to purchase assistance ... usually in the form of a debtor, thief, desperate pauper, or a relative of such. Traveling in Aurelia Getting around Aurelia (or up and down, as the case may be) is no mean feat given the strange size and shape of the city. Aurelians have several methods of transportation available to them, but each depends on physical ability, desired speed, and budget. Many times (most times?) all three don't match up in harmony. Grand Canal This winding central waterway, operated by a steep system of locks, allows barges, boats, and water traffic of all kinds to ascend and descend from the Serpent's Temple to the Great Gate. One might consider it a pleasant way to travel and see the city -- but in terms of speed, it is incredibly slow and tedious, as the boat must stop at every dock and lock, discharging/loading goods or waiting for water levels to rise/fall before continuing on. The price is out of a poor person's budget (although some work for passage if necessary) but modestly-priced for a middle-class person who has time on his/her hands. Grand Perimeter Road This thoroughfare, which runs alongside the Grand Canal all the way down the city, is perhaps the cheapest transport option. The "travel tax" is only a few brass pennies for the Lower City and the Middle Stratem, which comprise the whole of travel options for many Aurelians. Citizens each possess a "Writ of Passage" (an ID paper) that allows them to move freely between certain strata based on status. At the entrance gate to each, they must present their Writ of Passage and pay the penny or two travel tax to gain admittance. While it may seem needless to check papers at every stratem, this becomes important once citizens reach any stratem above the Middle Stratem (which is the gathering place for rich and poor alike). Poor Aurelians, for example, had better have a letter of business if they wish access to the wealthier trades districts, and tradesmen had better have a letter of business if they wish to access the Strata of the First, where the nobles live. Aurelians are very conscious of station, not to mention of how discontent among inhabitants (over matters of wealth and accss) could bring great trouble to their overcrowded world. West/East Lifts As the Aurelian map attests, a lift system is available on both the west and east sides of the city. It cuts through the core of the mountain and provides access at each landing, via a short tunnel, into each stratem. Lifts are more expensive transportation, reserved for rush shipping, Public Watch maneuvers, and wealthier Aurelians for whom time is more valuable than money. A few people have trouble riding the lift due to its "quavering" platform that trembles a bit with the rolling of the central chains. But overall, the west/east lifts are well-maintained and reliable, unlike other, smaller privately-held lifts which may be rickety, rusty, or prone to plummeting down their shafts. Warfare and Weapons section needs content Women's Rights In the distant past, when the Wasteland was a paradise lit by the fiery energy of Shakna, men and women shared life together on equal terms, and in harmony. The notion of "gender inequality," along with social hierarchies, and oppression of any kind, were unknown. Indeed, the Chosen (who fled the city with the Tree of Shakna during the Rebellion of Navaris) still practice a system in which women command equal authority and respect. To adequately trace the root of modern inequalities, we must return to the fall of Darkness upon the plains. This catastrophic event brought a host of ills, including the development of strict family structures in which men dominated and women were obliged to listen. Thus, over the centuries, Aurelia has expereinced considerable inequality between the genders. Men still drive business, politics, and progress. Women nurture families and try not to get in the way of their menfolk. Those (like Prince Bayard, rest in peace) who still believe in the existence Shakna are convinced that its restoration, while reinvigorating the beauty and bounty of the land, would also destroy the structures of power and return humankind to more amicable gender relations. Those who are not convinced of Shakna's true existence (like Julia Ettaine) see force as the only option for change. There are, however, notable exceptions to the general lower status of Aurelian women. A few women have held (and continue to hold) positions of power in the Symposia -- often masquerading their way through classes until their intellectual prowess was too valuable to be cast aside at the revelation of gender. Noble and peasant women alike also find endless ways to exert influence, learn trades and skills, and run businesses -- whether through the genteel intrigues of their own closed-off parlors, or through back-alley expertise that spreads through word of mouth. As with any other aspect of Aurelia, deceit and scheming are used quite a bit to circumvent the state of affairs. And plenty of women are anxious to make the issue of women's status a matter of public discourse. Consider this one of many opportunities for increased conflict and action that your character faces.